The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch
by Itazu
Summary: The Marauders and Lily's circle are all going through the same thing in their life: sixth year at Hogwarts! This year brings out the best and worst of people, new friendships, lost friendships and love forming between the two groups. LESB,JP weekly update
1. Newport Living

Lily Evans burned a hole into the back of James Potter's head with her eyes. Her hatred for him was indescribable. It didn't really help that she was sitting behind him in the most important Transfiguration class of the year.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily's eyes left the back of James' head to the front of the classroom at her teacher, Professor McGonagall, who had been giving a lecture. She was a younger woman compared to most of the other teachers (Lily guess her mid-thirties) but had the tone of voice that made her sound old. She wore her mousey-brown hair in a tight bun—usually with a large midnight-blue hat—and navy blue robes that clung to her curvy figure. Some of the 'warped' (as Lily called them) boys found Minerva McGonagall to be attractive.

"Would you kindly take your eyes off of the back of Mr. Potter's head and _pay attention_? I believe that I said this lecture would be on your NEWTs." Lily flushed such a deep shade of red that it clashed with her auburn hair.

"Yes, Professor," she said through her embarrassment and glared at James when he turned around to look at her, giving a lopsided grin—one that Lily detested. But when anyone who knew her thought about it, there wasn't a thing about James Potter Lily didn't detest.

○○○

"Can you believe him?" Lily said, enraged, as she and her two friends walked out of the Transfiguration classroom. "Just grinning at me with that ugly face of his. The nerve of him!"

"Well," Francine Newborton began, "he was probably grinning because he is completely smitten with you and the fact that you were staring at the back of his head makes him imagine that you were imagining doing something romantic with him." Francine was the tallest of the trio. She had silvery-blonde hair and piercing light blue eyes, both passed down to her from her mother who was a Veela. Her skin was a tanned color that she got from her father and clashed with her hair, although this effect made her look even more stunning than she already was—an effect that wouldn't be so for anyone else.

"As if," Lily scoffed. "_Smitten_. No, more like he enjoys my embarrassment."

"Or maybe it's both," Wednesday Lurry said airily, twisting a strand of her bored-straight hair in her fingers. Her grey eyes lingered on Lily for a moment and then went up to the ceiling. Lily ignored her comment, it was usual for Wednesday to be out of it, even if then her comment made sense.

"And, on top of that, it's already one week into the term and Potter still hasn't asked me out," Lily continued furiously. "Ugh, I can't even stand to say his last name. I'll call him 'The P-Word' from now on. Or Pea-brain. No, I need something worse. It has to start with a 'p'. Come on, help me think."

"Help you think? I'm not sure that makes sense, Lily, be—" Wednesday stopped at the look on her friends face. "Pubic hair?" she suggested.

"Hmm…" Lily thought about it, meanwhile Francine was listing all the words that began with a 'p' she could think of aloud.

"Pee, pooh, pen, papaya, Peter Pettigrew—oh my God, no—paper, feces—oops, that's an 'f'…"

"I got it!" Lily exclaimed. Francine and Wednesday looked at her hopefully. There was a silence between them in which the two stared at their friend, who didn't move a muscle, waiting for her to speak. But she didn't. The silence was interrupted by a growl which had come from Francine's stomach.

"Damn, I'm hungry," she said, looking at her watch. "Sweet Jesus! Only forty minutes left of lunch—all the good food will be gone!" With that Francine sprinted off to the Great Hall, many heads turning toward her as she past and guys ready to do something stupid to impress her.

Wednesday waved her hand in front of Lily's face. Lily, who had still not moved, took no notice to Wednesday. Wednesday, realizing she was still thinking of a name, gave another suggestion. "Prick?"

Lily snapped out of it immediately. "Prick! Ha! Wednesday, you're a genius!" She looked down at her watch. "Good God! Only thirty-five minutes left of lunch—Francine will eat all the food!" With that Lily took off to the Great Hall, Wednesday skipping after her.

○○○

"Evans."

"Prick."

"Ouch," James said, looking hurt. "Hey, I wanted to ask you a question."

"_No_."

"What?"

"I said no, Prick. No, I will not go out with you."

"I wasn't going to ask you out," James said plainly. And then, "But, if you want—"

"No, Prick."

"Stop calling me Prick!"

"No…Prick."

James sighed and ruffled his already messy black hair, grinning when he noticed Lily twitch. "Hey…"

"I don't know why you sat next to me, and frankly, Prick, I don't care. Can you please leave me alone so that I can do my homework in peace and quiet—as it should be since we're in the library?"

"Well, I was just wondering…"

"Whatever you wonder about me is wrong…" Lily said in a high-pitched, nagging whisper.

"Hey Prongs," Sirius Black said casually, taking a seat across from James. He was extremely handsome with black hair and grey eyes, high-set cheek bones, the apples of his cheeks slightly rosy, a fine chiseled chin with a cute dimple in the middle and a gorgeous mouth that was plump in the middle—but not too plump. He nodded at Lily in acknowledgement and she smiled at him, blushing a bit. This went unnoticed to James.

Remus Lupin came from a bookshelf with a large stack of books in his arms. With a _thud_ he placed them on the table. Lily, looking up from her homework, noticed that all of them were on her favorite subject, Potions. Remus had sandy-blonde hair and pale features with icy blue eyes that, to Lily, made him look almost wild and untamed. Though, Remus was far from that. He was a well-composed gentleman who usually refused to join in on James' pranks and practical jokes. But he always did, for some reason, always, in the end, finding himself feeling horribly guilty. He took the seat across from Lily.

"Padfoot, Moony," James greeted them as Lily noticed someone not far behind where Remus and Sirius sat. He was sitting at a table, hunched over and focused intently on a book. His brown hair concealed his face. But almost as if sensing she was staring, he looked up at her and smiled a million-dollar-smile.

"So, anyways Evans…Evans? Are you with us?" James continued. He tried to line his eyes up to who she was smiling dreamily at. Sirius turned around and realized too.

"Oh, hey, it's that seventh year prat-Hufflepuff, Nat Diggory," he stated. He turned back to Lily and moved his face into the line of her vision; his grey eyes met her emerald green ones. "I see we like the older and studious ones, don't we?" Lily flushed.

"N-no!" she protested. "I-I…" She didn't want James to make fun of her. It was true, she did have a thing for Nat but Francine had already claimed him the year before. But that didn't mean Lily couldn't admire from afar.

"SO ANYWAYS, EVANS," James said loudly. A chant of worried 'oh-no's went through her brain. He was going to embarrass her, the prick. She looked back toward Nat who had looked over. "I WAS JUST WONDERING," James continued, feeling self-satisfied with the look of horror on Lily's face. "WHY YOU WERE UNDRESSING ME WITH YOUR EYES IN TRANSFIGURATION THIS MORING?"

Francine and Wednesday were walking to the library to find Lily. Francine had come up with a few more p-words and was hoping to run into Nat as he was usually at the library at that time while Wednesday wanted some help with her Potions essay because, being as carefree as she was, she 'forgot to pay attention' as she put it.

"So I was looking in the dictionary and found some interesting words," Francine explained. "Like—I can't believe I never though of it—peni—" But the rest of Francine's sentence was drowned by a scream that echoed the halls close to the library.

"**WHAT? YOU PRICK!**" it sounded like. Francine looked at Wednesday and Wednesday looked at Francine.

"Blimey," Francine said, "I can't believe I didn't think of that one…prick…"

"I think that was our good friend Lily," Wednesday stated in her usual airy voice. A girl with auburn hair sprinted past them. There was a beat of silence and Wednesday broke it saying, "That too."

Nat Diggory came running from the same direction Lily had. Francine said, as quickly as she could, "Wendy-take-Lily-I-Nat." Wednesday, surprisingly, understood this and ran to catch up to her friend. Francine stepped in front of Nat who stopped dead in his tracks.

"I got twelve OWLS last year!" he hollered at her. Francine always had that effect on boys. They'd say anything to impress her. But anything Nat said was usually true.

"That's great!" Francine exclaimed. "I only got seven."

Nat smiled, he actually impressed her. "For Quidditch, I'm the Hufflepuff team captain!"

"You must be a born leader!"

"And I'm the seeker!"

"I'm the Gryffindor keeper! We both play important roles on our Quidditch teams! We're _meant for each other_!"

Lily ran into the deserted girls lavatories. She could openly cry of embarrassment here. Her sobs echoed the room and were soon joined by other ones. A transparent girl popped up from the toilet of the cubicle Lily was in.

"Did someone make fun of your glasses too?" the ghost asked in her high-pitched voice.

"I don't have any glasses!" Lily sobbed.

"Could it be that you want glasses?"

"No!" Lily cried. She heard the lavatory door open and close and held her breath. She stepped up onto the toilet seat and pressed bother her hands against either wall.

"_Hey!_ That's _my_ toilet!" the ghost said harshly, rising out of the cubicle and letting out a great sob.

"Hello," and airy voice said.

"Wendy!" the ghost squealed.

"Moaning Myrtle!" Wednesday said back, her voice not changing. Moaning Myrtle let out a sob.

"Not _that_ again!" she cried. "You're making fun of me with that name!"

"Yes," Wednesday said bluntly, "I suppose I am."

"You're horrible!" Moaning Myrtle shrieked and flew into the cubicle next to Lily and into the toilet with a splash.

Wednesday knocked on the door of Lily's cubicle. Lily held her breath. "Lily, I know you're in there. Come out," she said. "_Alohamora_." The cubicle remained locked. "Oh, smart…they made impossible for magic to open." Lily let out a breath of relief and looked down. Wednesday's face was sticking into the space under the cubicle. "Found you."

"OH MY GOD!" Lily shrieked. "Wendy, you freak!"

"Tell me what's wrong," Wednesday said, standing up.

"No, I'm fine," Lily stated.

"No, you're not."

"Can't a girl just go to the washroom and have a good cry anymore!"

"Yes, of course. But I don't normally do it," Wednesday pointed out. "So it must be weird to."

"What are you talking about? You're the one who crawled under the door! _This_ isn't weird, _you_ are!" Lily's foot slid into the toilet. "Damn it! Help me, Wendy!"

"Well, I want you to tell me what's wrong first and then I'll blow the toilet into a thousand pieces allowing your foot to escape," Wednesday replied, ignoring Moaning Myrtle who was shrieking, "You bloody hell won't!"

Lily sighed. She would have to tell her the truth…or a lie. Or maybe both. There was no way she could let Wednesday know that she had a thing for Nat Diggory, Wednesday would automatically take Francine's side because Francine had liked him for so long (it was a surprise to all three of them that he hadn't asked her out already).

"Well," she began, "The Prick, you know who I'm talking about, just embarrassed me in the library suggesting something…gross."

"And _that_ bothered you?" Wednesday said, her usual airy voice gone.

"Yeah…when doesn't it?"

"I wouldn't expect you to cry over something like that. You're the kind of person to be enraged and ignore it, really."

"Am I?" Lily asked, surprised. She always saw herself as a sensitive person.

"Who in particular was it in front of? I mean, you're in a certain mood when you like someone. It's a different mood than when you don't like anyone at all. You've been like this since June, I think," Wednesday stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, well I was sitting beside James and across from Remus who was sitting next to Sirius who were way in front of—" Lily stopped. Why was she even telling Wednesday this? She'd definitely guess or suspect Nat if she mentioned him. "Well, yeah. James, Remus and Sirius. But I don't like any of them…I don't think…" '_Yeah, I don't think, I know I don't like any of them…_' she thought.

Wednesday tapped her chin apparently thinking. She had chosen, it seemed, to ignore what she began to say after listing Sirius. "Well, Lily, I think that you like Sirius," she said finally. "I mean, you blush every time he's around and he is a notorious flirt and every girl finds that somewhat attractive." Lily looked at Wednesday blankly. "Don't worry, Lil, I'll keep your secret and somehow formulate a plan to get him to go out with you…"

"Wendy?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Lily-muggins?"

"Please act brain-dead again."

"What?" Wednesday said airily, looking around confused. "Oh, I must have dozed off. Sorry, it's kind of cramped in here. Now that you're not crying, we can leave."

Lily sighed. After acting 'smart' Wednesday would always end it when someone asked and act as if she had no idea what went on. Sometimes Lily thought that she was actually serious, but then shook off that feeling, just assuming Wednesday was a good actress.

○○○

For the next few weeks Francine and Wednesday kept thinking of absurd plans to get Lily and Sirius together.

"We'll lock you in the cupboard and then he'll realize his love for you and start shouting out all the things that he's good at and then you'll snog passionately until the sun goes down!" Francine hollered, apparently excited, one evening in the girls dormitories.

"Francine, that kind of thing only happens to you," Lily said quietly flipping through her Transfiguration text book. After missing the lecture with Professor McGonagall she was moved somewhere else so that she could concentrate. First she was moved next to Peter Pettigrew who kept asking her all the answers to unfinished homework he had while the professor was explaining the homework for that night. Due to Peter's constant chatter, Professor McGonagall moved Lily next to Wednesday which at first she was thrilled with because, obviously, Wednesday was one of her friends and she was sitting at the back. But then it turned out the reason why Wednesday always got poor marks in Transfiguration (it was such a surprise she was even in the class for NEWTs) was because she picked that class to sleep, taking advantage of being so far back in the class. That might not have been such a big deal if Wednesday didn't snore so loudly that Lily couldn't hear. So after every class, to keep her marks up, Lily would have to learn from the text book.

"I'm hungry," she said suddenly, shutting the text book and walking out of the room. Francine followed her, known never to pass up a chance to eat. Wednesday was curled up in her bed and had suddenly fallen asleep.

Walking through the common room, Lily caught James' eye and he scowled at her. He'd been moody ever since that day in the library.

"Lil! There _he_ is!" Francine whispered in her ear. '_Nat Diggory? In the Gryffindor common room?_' Lily thought and found herself being pushed into a tall and sturdy figure.

"Oh hey, Lily," Sirius Black smiled down at her.

"Hey Sirius."

"Any luck with Nat?"

"What?" Lily asked and then remembered that he had guessed who she liked. "Oh…right…well, you see, about that…" Sirius waited for her to continue. "Well Francine likes Nat so technically I can't. Well I got them to believe that the reason I cr—er…" She wouldn't let him know that she had been crying over the whole thing. "The reason that I was _so upset_ about the whole incident in the library was because I…kinda…sorta…had a thing for you…"

"A thing for me?" Sirius said, taken aback.

"You know, they think I _like you_."

"Well, do you?"

"No! I mean, yes, of course, but not in that way," Lily said quickly.

"Hmm," he said with a 'knowing' smirk on his face.

"What's 'Hmm' supposed to mean?"

"Hmm."

Lily sighed. It really didn't make any sense to her why she was even talking to him. He was just as brain-dead as Wednesday, it seemed. "Well, if they ask about me in anyway, can you do something to help me out so they don't find out that I like Nat and not you?"

"Okay," he said simply. "But I want something in return."

"Like what?"

"I'll decide later, but yeah, I'll help you," Sirius said and turned away. "So yeah, see you later, _hot stuff_." He really emphasized the last two words and said them loudly. At the look of surprise on Lily's face, he added quietly, "For effect."

When Sirius had gone, Francine ran up to Lily and hugged her from behind. "He is _so_ into you. I wouldn't be surprised if my cupboard idea worked with him!" she exclaimed. Lily gave a forced laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, I think you _would_ be surprised," she said her face a little hot from Sirius. She walked toward the portrait to leave the common room, not before stealing at glance at James who scowled at her once more. Francine followed Lily again, ignoring the fact that every guy that looked at her (some of them, used to her walking through the room, shielded their eyes) would scream something like, "I've sailed the seven seas!" or "I'll jump out that window right there and make it, watch me!"

Only few students knew how to get into the kitchens and thankfully for Francine and Lily, they were of those few. Francine had found out from a certain teacher easily, using her natural Veela talent (which was just standing in front of them and straight-out asking). The kitchens were directly under the Great Hall and students could get in by going up to a certain portrait of fruit in the hallway of the dungeons and tickle the pear thus turning into a handle to open the portrait.

As soon as Francine opened the door, they were bombarded by house elves.

"It's the sixth year Francine and her friend…her friend…" one house-elf said happily.

"Her name is Lily, Muffin," Francine told the small house-elf smiling back at her.

"We shall make you food!" another squealed.

"What does you want?"

"Candy! We can make candy!"

"Of course they doesn't want candy, they is witches. They is deserving of better."

"Perhaps…perhaps you could tell us?" Muffin asked Francine quietly.

"Yes, I want a feast for a mountain lion!" Francine exclaimed and the house-elves set off to work immediately after her last word.

"Francine," Lily said, falling into a chair that had been pushed behind her. "I don't think that making them make so much is really going to help. I'm only a little hungry, chips are okay." As soon as she said "chips" a house-elf with a bowl of chips popped up in front of her and placed it on her lap and then joined the others running around the kitchen making, what it smelt like, dozens of different kinds of meat.

But Francine couldn't tell Lily that the feast wasn't for her, Lily, but for herself. Her mouth was currently stuffed with pork that had been set on a plate in front of her. Lily sighed and began to eat her chips peacefully, quite unlike Francine who was having a race with the house-elves to finish off the first bit of meat before they brought the next.

"Mmmmm…LEEELEEE…my tummy hurts," Francine groaned clutching her stomach as the pair walked back to the common room hoping to get there before curfew.

"Well, it serves you right, you pig."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Francine hollered. And, suddenly, she stood up straight. Lily looked at her strangely and then down the hall, right in front of them. Nat Diggory was strutting down the hall with a pack of girls surrounding him. Lily's face went beet-red and she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous.

"Hi, Nat," she said, smiling at him the best that she could.

"Oh, hey, Lily," he said and then set his eyes on Francine. "I can do an aerial! I'm a seeker! I can fly really well on a broom! I've had _a ton_ of girlfriends!" he squealed. Lily's face went, if possible, and even darker shade of red. Not only did he completely ignore her existence from that point on, he had mentioned how many girlfriends he'd had.

"Oho, my Nat. I bet you can do an aerial, we've already discussed your seeker-ism and flight. But these girlfriends…"

"Come on Francine," Lily said suddenly, grabbing her friends arm and forcing her in the direction of the common room. Nat didn't turn around to see Francine off.

"Bye, Lily," he said loudly.

"See you, Nat," Lily replied, pulling a struggling Francine with her.

The next day was a good day for Lily. Not only was it a Saturday but they found out that on Sunday they'd be going to Hogsmeade. And, of course, something else happened. She was in the library studying her Transfiguration text book as she hadn't gotten a chance to the day before. It was later in the day, an hour from curfew. That morning she, Francine and Wednesday had gone for a walk along school grounds until Francine had to go to Quidditch practice ("Why? The Prick's running it! Don't leave me alone with _her_ Franny!"). Lily had left for the library when Wednesday had run underneath the Whomping Willow and fallen asleep (why it didn't attack her, Lily wasn't sure).

"Hey Lily," a voice said from in front of her. Looking up, Lily saw that Nat Diggory had taken the seat across from her.

"Hi Nat, what's up?" she asked casually, just hiding the nervousness in her voice. It wasn't usual for Nat to actually approach her to talk to her.

"Oh…nothing," he said, looking at his hands. "Hey, you heard about the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow then?"

"Yes. And I'm assuming you have too," she giggled, not really sure why.

"Well, yes. Um, of course you would have heard anyways, you're a prefect so you have to check the notice board," Nat smiled. "Well, um, would you like to go with me?"

"Go with you?" Lily repeated. "_Go_ with you?"

"Well, then, if you don't want to—"

"No! I want to! I'm just registering shock!" she exclaimed.

"Great. Meet me in the Entrance Hall at noon tomorrow," he said smiling.

Lily smiled back at him. Nat stood up and left the library leaving Lily beaming. Another figure took the seat in front of her.

"Evans, you're looking awfully happy."

"Yes, I am happy," she said, closing her Transfiguration text book.

"Well, I'm just telling you that you're going to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow," James said.

"No, I'm not. What gives you that idea?"

"Well, I want to go out with you and the people who can are going to Hogsmeade tomorrow so I figure we'll go together."

"And where's my say in this?"

"Fine. Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"No."

"See? This is why I didn't ask."

Lily stood up and looked at James Potter with a look of disgust. "Well then stop asking. I'm already going with someone, if that'll stop you."

"You're what?" James asked, standing up too.

"Already going with someone," Lily repeated, looking around. "Hey where are your friends?"

"Sirius is doing something naughty in a broom cupboard, Peter is…well he's Peter and if I don't have a good enough reason to hang out with him, I won't and Remus is at the prefect's meeting," he said. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be there?"

Lily merely scoffed at him and turned to go when she realized that she _was_ supposed to be there. "Shit!" she said loudly, turning back to James and giving him her book. "Give this to Francine or Wednesday, they'll put it away for me! I have to go!" With that Lily ran off, leaving a disappointed James behind with her text book.

○○○

"Why are you awake?" Francine asked Lily while Lily dressed in her best and most flirtatious looking clothes. It was eleven forty-five, just fifteen minutes before she was meeting Nat.

"Getting ready," Lily said happily.

"For what?"

"My date."

Francine jumped out of her bed and started rummaging through her trunk. "Sirius has already asked you out? This is so awesome! I've got the perfect top for you!"

"Er—yeah…Sirius. He asked me out yesterday in the library," Lily said, hoping that she sounded convincing. "We're going to Hogsmeade today at noon."

Francine threw a silk green handkerchief top at Lily. "It'll bring out your eyes. Pair it with jeans. Most guys prefer Muggle clothing on girls, it shows off our bodies more."

"Oh…thanks," Lily said, immediately putting it on with the jeans that she was already wearing. The top fit her perfectly. She couldn't wait for Nat to see her in it. For the next five minutes Francine did Lily's make up and hair. Lily especially liked her hair. She had two strands of hair loose and curved around her face while the rest was in a loose messy-bun. Finally it was time for Lily to go.

"Wendy and I will be there at around one o'clock-ish. I think an hour is enough for your date. Well, that's my opinion but we're going to be there then anyways," Francine told Lily. Lily hugged her, said "thanks" and set off.

Nat was waiting in the Entrance Hall when Lily got there. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Wow, Lily, you look gorgeous." Lily giggled and continued to walk to the front door, Nat walking in step with her. "So, I figure we might go to Madam Puddifoot's first and have some tea…and talk and then we can do anything, really."

"Sounds good," Lily replied.

James looked down from the stairs as Lily and Nat left. A shiver went down his spine at the sight of Lily. "You know, Wormtail, I really don't think that Nat Diggory's really special," he stated, giving a death-glare at the brown haired boy who had just slipped his hand into Lily's just after having his and her name checked on the list of people who could go and just before walking through the doors. "I mean, he sucks at Quidditch—a horrible seeker—and he can't resist to Francine—any honorable gentleman could do that and…well, he's so full of himself!"

"Yes, of course Prongs, of course," Peter Pettigrew agreed sitting down on the marble floor reading a wizard's comic which was composed of moving pictures.

"And you're not full of yourself?" Remus asked, reading a book on Potions, his worst subject.

"Shut up, Moony," James snapped. "Where's Padfoot?"

"Hogsmeade. Probably snogging that one blonde girl—what was her name?" Remus asked.

"Cinnamon. Cinnamon Brown," Peter said.

"Yes, probably snogging Cinnamon Brown in Madam Puddifoot's."

"Well this poses a problem for Lily, now doesn't it?" James smirked, turning to face Remus. "She's supposed to like Sirius but what if she somehow gets caught by Francine?"

"You wouldn't," Remus said, closing his Potions book and looking sternly at James. "That's the meanest thing you could do to her."

"But I would," James said, a smirk still stamped on his face. "And the meanest thing I could do to her is kill her…which I definitely wouldn't do because I'd miss—I mean, because murder can't really be covered up. Oho, Lilykins, you just wait…"

"_Lilykins?_" Peter said.

"Shut up, Wormtail," James said, kicking Peter so hard that he fell onto his side.

○○○

"Well, we've pretty much gone everywhere we can," Francine said, looking at her watch. "Lily and Sirius should be done their date. Oooh, I can't wait to hear the _juicy_ details!"

"You can eat details?" Wednesday asked in her usual airy voice, looking in the window of the jewelry store they were just in. Francine scowled at her and was about to say something back when she caught sight of James Potter.

"Oi! James!" she called, walking over to him. James looked down when addressing her. Yes, his was his method of not caving into her Veela looks.

"Hey Franny," he said. "Looking for Lily? She's in Madam Puddifoots."

"Oh," Francine said, looking over to the store. "Well, thanks, and stuff."

"It's my pleasure."

Francine looked at him oddly. "Come one, Wendy! We're getting Lily's face off of Sirius'!"

Wednesday automatically followed her friend, questioning how exactly Lily's face was positioned on top of Sirius' and how she imagined it'd hurt.

Lily's hand rested on top of Nat's and her lips were pressed against his in a passionate kiss. They hadn't left Madam Puddifoot's at all. Their time there mostly consisted of snogging and taking short breaths. Their tea was untouched. Lily was so busy with this that she didn't notice Sirius enter five minutes after she and Nat had and she didn't move an inch until coming up for breath when Francine and Wednesday walked in an hour later. She giggled a bit, looking into Nat's brown eyes and leaned in to kiss him some more when something behind him distracted her.

Francine was storming toward Lily with a death-glare on her face.

"Hi, Francine," Lily said, trying not to make eye contact. A huge sack of guilt had dropped itself on her.

"Sirius Black? Sirius Black?" Francine shouted with rage. Sirius, who had been in a very competitive game of tonsil hockey with Cinnamon Brown, looked at her and screamed, "What!" but then realizing that she wasn't really addressing him. But he didn't start his game up again, Lily was getting into trouble. All the snogging couples came up for air to watch.

"You know, I wouldn't be mad at all if you were _actually_ snogging Sirius Black! But instead you decide that it'd be fun to _lie_ to me and snog Nat Diggory!"

"I'm sorry Fran, I—" Lily tried to say.

"No! You know bloody well that I claimed him first!"

"Claimed me? What are you—" Nat had turned around to talk to Francine but failed, blurting out, "I'm a seeker!"

"Well I'm _sorry_ that for once the guy that I like happens to notice me over you and asks me out!" Lily yelled standing up, tears welled in her eyes. As much as she would have wanted not to fight with Francine, it was inevitable not saying what she said.

Francine was at a loss for words. She grabbed Nat's arm and pulled him and Wednesday outside, muttering over her shoulder, "Well, in every circle of friends there's a whore." Lily fell back into her chair and buried her head in her arms and cried so hard that her shoulders shook. She felt all the eyes in the café on her and stopped crying the best that she could. As she composed herself someone slid into the seat in front of her. She shot her head up to find herself face to face with a messy black haired boy with circular glasses and a lopsided grin on his face.

"So, _now_ will you go out with me?" he asked hopefully.

"_No, I fucking won't!_" Lily hollered. "_You fucking prick!_" With that she got up from the table and ran out of the café.

James sat in the chair, dumbfounded that she hadn't said yes. He started to stand up when Madam Puddifoot came waddling over to him. "That'll be four Galleons, please."

"What?" James asked. "Oh, right. Well I wasn't the one who bought—"

"_Someone_ needs to pay," Madam Puddifoot said harshly and James dug into his pocket retrieving four Galleons.

○○○

Lily read her Transfiguration text book, not really taking anything in. Francine and Wednesday refused to talk to her. Thankfully Nat had apologized and was still talking to her. She and him sat in the library, studying. That's pretty much all they had done. It was a week after the September Hogsmeade trip. Nat was more concentrated on studying than anything, which completely bored Lily. She was beginning to realize how little personality he had but didn't dare let him go—he was all she had. Occasionally she would pass Sirius in the halls and he would wink at her, causing her to blush. Remus would ask her to help him with studying (Peter would too but she'd always refuse because she couldn't stand him and the only reason he was doing it was because Remus was) but Lily hadn't spoken to James at all. It made her wonder what he was doing, not that she really actually cared or anything.

"I think James Potter's up to something," she told Nat, shivering when she said his name. He looked up at her, grunted, and looked back to the text book he was reading. "I mean, he hasn't even talked to me ever since…well…yeah. Anyways, it's just awkward."

"I'm sure it's nothing, hun," Nat said, touching her hand for a moment and then taking it back. She hated when he called her 'hun', another reason why she wanted to dump him, but lived with it.

"Okay, I hope you're right," she said.

"I am, I always a—Lily? Are you okay?" Lily's chair's legs had each broken into two.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, getting up and rubbing her buttock in pain.

"Wow, Lily, you must have gained weight. Madam Pince! Madam Pince! Lily Evans broke a chair!" James Potter's voice echoed through the library.

'_Yep,_' Lily thought. '_The Prick is definitely up to something._'

* * *

**A/N:** Allo! Itazu here!!! Hopefully you like this chapter. The whole story's named after the album by Cute Is What We Aim For and each chapter is the name of a track. Alors, this story will consist of twelve chapters and then I plan on writing two others. The next (also consisting of twelve chapters) will be called Commit to This Memory, the album by Motion City Soundtrack and then, maybe, Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys. I'm not sure about the last one though because I haven't exactly examined the whole album to look for a story in there. I might end up changing it to Silverstein's Discovering the Waterfront or Panic! At the Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. I'll probably add some 'fun facts' into the next chapter about the differences between this chapter and my plans becasue there are a few and I always find those interesting. I think I'll write a new chapter every weekend as during the weekdays I will be working on my other fanfiction titled 'Mystic, Brainy, Magic and Veela' (please read that one too). I guess that's the down fall of every person with a gigantic imagination that they can't seem to control (like moi), I get so many ideas for stories that I feel the need to write them all at once and then eventually get bored with one or all of those stories. BUT DON'T FRET!!! I won't get bored of this one. There's a lot of room for my creativity so I may change the story from my original plans at any time. 

**_COMMENT, REVIEW, OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU YOUNGINS CALL IT THESE DAYS._** Okay, I am one of you youngins, but DO IT.

Oh! And since I can't keep it in any longer, I _will _have a fun fact this chapter.  
FUN FACT: In every chapter I will have a line from the song that the chapter is titled (or a line similar to it).  
**This week's line was...**_"Well, in every circle of friends there's a whore."_ The actual line in the song is "in every circle of friends there's a whore".  
SEEYA!  
Until next chapter,  
Itazu  
_10/09/07_


	2. There's A Class For This

Lily Evans sat upright in her bed in the hospital wing. Her auburn hair was sticking up and frizzy while her face was covered in great flappy things. Earlier she had been walking through the halls with Nat, hand in hand (which was the most affection she ever got from him since Madam Puddifoot's). Francine walked by them, scowling, and when she was behind them she set the Bat Bogey Hex on her. While Lily was screaming because she could barely see through the great big flaps, Nat was hollering, "I got twelve OWLs in my fourth year!" to impress Francine.

Thankfully, Remus was walking by and kindly guided Lily to the hospital wing. Unfortunately on the way there a bucket of water that had been charmed into the air was dumped onto her. Remus did a spell to dry her off, which worked until it got to her hair which immediately puffed out.

Madam Pomfrey walked up to Lily's bed, sitting on the edge and began dabbing her face with a fish smelling liquid. "Your skin should be back to normal in about an hour," Madam Pomfrey assured her. Lily nodded to show that she understood, afraid that if she opened her mouth a flap would go into to and she wouldn't be able to get it out.

"It's a shame, really," Madam Pomfrey continued. "You'll be missing the first Quidditch game of the year. Your friend plays the keeper for Gryffindor, right? She's good, I expect. Gryffindor's clearly the best team. I'm not a big fan of it but when I do watch it, Quidditch is a great sport." Lily grunted. "I'll give you a sleeping draft, then. I'll only have you sleep an hour though." Lily grunted again and Madam Pomfrey opened her lips, pouring some the sleeping draft into her mouth (she, luckily, didn't get one of the flaps in too). Lily fell back into her pillows and began to snore immediately.

○○○

"We all know that our usual seeker, McLaggin, is off on leave because of his grandmothers passing so, naturally, I'll be substituting for him. Taking my place as chaser we have Ashley Spinnet," James Potter, the Gryffindor team captain, spoke to his team. It was the first and possibly most important game of the season. Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff and James wanted Hogwarts to see what his team was made of. He looked around at the team staring up at him. But there was one person missing. "Where's Francine?" he asked. And when nobody answered, "Where's my keeper?" he bellowed, causing the tame to jump.

Lucy Cabaret, a beater, began saying, "I think I saw her snogging—" but stopped when a much disheveled looking Francine Newborton walked in—her robes put on slightly wrong.

"Where've you been?" James snapped. Francine giggled, pulling her robes back on properly.

"Wotsammater? I was just having a bit of fun," she replied lazily. "And can we ease up on Hufflepuff? Nat's rather nervous."

"What?" James asked as if what she said was the most horrible and absurd thing which, to him and the other Gryffindor Quidditch team, it was. "Nat Diggory asked you this? Nat Diggory—Hufflepuff team captain? Nat Diggory—Hufflepuff seeker? Nat Diggory—Lily Evans' boyfriend?" Francine scowled at the last one.

"Yes, _that_ Nat Diggory," she said.

"The only reason you'd want us to go easy on him is because you've been snogging him nonstop behind Lily's back," Frank Longbottom, the other beater and a witness at Madam Puddifoot's, spoke. James clenched his right hand into a fist. For some reason it bothered him that she was purposely letting Lily's boyfriend cheat on her, even if they weren't very close anymore.

"Well there's no chance in hell we're going to '_ease up_' on the Hufflepuffs," he said furiously. "And if _you_ ease up on them, I'll have you resign. Come on, Gryffindor." James directed everyone out of the changing rooms but stayed behind for a moment with Francine who was last. "You know, you were right in Madam Puddifoot's. In every circle of friends there _is_ a whore." With that he left—Francine a ways behind him.

"Shake hands, captains," Professor McGonagall, who was refereeing the match, told them. Nat clenched James' hand in a friendly manner while James pretty much tried to break his fingers. "Now I want a nice, clean game," Professor McGonagall stated particularly looking at James who had prolonged the handshake, leaving all the fingers on Nat's right hand sore.

"The Quaffle is up. Gryffindor's Spinnet's got it. She goes through a bunch of Hufflepuffs. A Bludger hits her. Hufflepuff in possession," a very monotone voice flooded through the stands. James looked over to see Severus Snape doing the commentary. Whoever was hiring the commentators must have been really desperate, thought. But he saw Sirius Black heading toward Snape (Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew close behind), hexing him, and prying the microphone from his hands.

"AND THE GRYFFINDOR KEEPER EVER SO CARELESSLY LETS THE QUAFFLE THROUGH THE RIGHT HOOP! THAT'S 10-0 HUFFLEPUFF!" Sirius' voice boomed through the pitch—the change causing the spectators to cheer and an arm-bounded Snape to look upset. "Jesus, James. I knew she was hot but Quidditch is about talent! That's now 20-0 to Hufflepuff after a point from Amos Diggory, the seeker's younger brother!"

"Hey James," Nat Diggory greeted, stopping beside James on his GoldBroom98. "Thanks for easing up. I knew Franny-pie could talk you into it."

"_Franny-pie_?" James asked, clearly unimpressed.

"Well, yeah, that's what I call her."

"So you think that '_Franny-pie_' asked me to ease up on you and I agreed?"

"Well, yes. I mean, we're up twenty points and it's barely five minutes into the game."

James stared at Nat intently for a minute, figuring out what he should say. He though to correct Nat—which was the evident thing to do. But, no. James clenched his right hand into a fist and punched Nat right across the face.

"AND GRYFFINDOR CAPTAIN AND SUBSTITUTE SEEKER SOCKS HUFFLEPUFF CAPTAIN AND SEEKER ACROSS THE FACE! Good punch though. Ooh, he's coughing up blood. _Very_ good punch."

The whistle blew and Professor McGonagall flew up, rather awkwardly, on her broom. "This is a warning, Potter!"

"I-I thought I saw the snitch!" James protested.

"THOUGHT HE SAW THE SNITCH? _LIKELY STORY_," Sirius bellowed (how he heard, James wasn't sure).

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"Hufflepuff chaser, Melanie Stewart, takes the penalty! Oh and that's 30-0 Hufflepuff, scored through the middle hoop. Newborton actually flew away from that one!"

James looked down a Francine who was happily flying in circles around the three hoops on Gryffindor's side. "Francine!" he bellowed. She stopped and looked up at him. "Step it up!" But in response she merely waved and continued. James would have liked to punch her across the face, even if she was their keeper and a girl, right then and there but something distracted him: a streak of gold right by his eyes. He turned around and caught sight of it streaking toward the Gryffindor seats. He began to fly forward on his SweetSweep2002, picking up speed with every second.

"AND FINALLY POTTER'S DONE SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE TEAM AND SPOTTED THE SNITCH!" At this announcement, Nat Diggory, who had flown opposite James, was going toward the snitch as well, his hand stretched out. The snitch was flying right to him! '_Come on,_' James egged his broom on, wishing it'd go faster. The snitch was right in between him and Nat, Nat with the advantage of it flying to him. But James hated losing and he was most certainly not losing to a woman-stealer (did he just think that?). He pulled himself to the end of his broom and, when he reached the tip and was close enough, dove on top of the snitch. He felt it pressed against his stomach by his forearms just before banging heads with Nat and everything going black.

○○○

James opened one eye and then the other. His head was severely bandaged and he had a horrible headache. '_Where am I?_' he asked himself. '_The hospital wing,_' he answered himself. But where were Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail? Surely they'd come to see him.

"So how's it going with that Nat Diggory?" a familiar voice asked.

"Good," another familiar voice said, sounding bored.

"Can we get into detail?" It was Sirius! James recognized Sirius as the first voice. "Like, maybe, how flat his personality is?"

"He doesn't have a flat personality!" James recognized the second voice as Lily's. But what was she doing in the hospital wing? And why was Sirius visiting her?

"Yeah, Lils, let's be specific." '_Lils?_' he thought, a dam of anger ready to burst, he wasn't sure why, in the pit of his stomach.

"Well," Lily began, "he's smart…and older…" Sirius laughed.

"Smart and older? That's it?" he asked. "Has he visited you yet?" Clearly Lily had shaken her head. "No? How often do you snog?"

"I think that's a rather personal question."

"No! It isn't!" Sirius protested. "Anyways, snogging's what keeps a lame relationship going. So…?"

"He hasn't even pecked me since Madam Puddifoot's," Lily replied hesitantly, yawning. "But I'm not breaking up with him. I don't really have any other friends."

"Oh, okay, I'm not your friend," Sirius said sarcastically.

"That's right…you _are_ my friend. And Remus too, I think. I forgot about you."

"Well that's nice to know," he replied, once again sarcastic. "And James is your friend too." Lily grunted at this, causing James to feel slightly ashamed of himself. He wished he had a relationship with her like Sirius or Remus.

"So what happened to him anyways?" Lily asked after a moment of silence.

"Oh, James? Well he—" Sirius had turned to face James' bed, which was next to Lily's. "Speak of the devil! He's awake! Anyways, Prongs, I was just about to tell Lily how you got hurt. Nat and James were both going for the snitch and collided. James fell onto the ground unconscious when Nat grabbed the snitch." James flew up—Gryffindor had lost! But he had to lay back down just as fast—his headache not nearly better to sit up just yet, no matter how angry he was.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lily said. A blush rose to James' face, surprisingly. She actually cared. But then she continued, "It would have been cool if Gryffindor had won the first game. It's a bit silly, really. They were playing Hufflepuff!" Now anger, sadness and regret etched into his soul and he rolled over, refusing to face Lily or Sirius.

"Oh, James, I should go," Sirius said suddenly (directed at James even though he wasn't sitting with him). James grunted this time. "Bye James. See you, Lily."

"Bye, Sirius," Lily responded and when the door was shut behind him, sighed. "Potter? What do you think of Nat?"

James decided not to answer. He was sure Lily didn't want to hear that he was a stuck-up, lying, cheating prick who stunk at Quidditch. Lily sighed again.

"Figures you won't answer. You know, you're so—" At that moment the door burst open revealing Francine and Nat mid-snog. James had turned around when the door had opened, knowing Lily was watching and most likely mortified.

Francine and Nat pulled apart—a satisfied look on her face and Nat with a dreamy one. Nat looked at Lily and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Francine gave him a little push on his back—that seemed to do it.

"Hey Lily," he said casually. Lily didn't answer. "Well, I guess you saw that." James thought he was the only one to hear Lily mutter, "Damn fucking right I did," although her voice wasn't like her usual one—it was cracked and sad. "I don't think us going out is a good idea anymore…we can still be friends, though…" Nat turned around to leave. Lily threw the sheets off of her, unaware that Francine was watching her every move and also unaware that James saw part of her lacey red underwear which made his heart beat slightly faster. Lily got off the hospital bed and stormed up to Nat.

"_No_, we will _not_ be friends after this you-you cunt-sucking, son of a bit—"

"_Impedimenta!_" Francine hollered, pointing her wand at Lily. Lily flew back and slammed into the wall.

"Come on, Nat," Francine said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the room, slamming the door behind her. For a moment the room was completely silent until Lily's small sobs echoed the walls. James flung himself out of his bed, not caring about his pounding head, and went to help Lily up. But she refused to do so, slumping like a rag doll and sliding back down the wall. James, not wanting to force her to get up or be standing up himself, slid down next to her. He looked down at her and waited, not exactly sure what to do. Her auburn hair had been fixed to its natural silky texture during the Quidditch game. She had her hands covering her face and wore the hospital wing pajamas, like him, but for girls was a night gown that went to knee-length and for boys a pair of pants and a button-up shirt.

Lily's cries because to stop until she was merely sniffling. "S-sorry," she stuttered, moving her hands from her eyes and wiping away the left over tears.

James smirked, not entirely sure if it was the right thing to do, and said, "Well, drama seems to follow you around everywhere."

Lily laughed. James jumped inwardly—he hadn't said the wrong thing!

"No, drama doesn't follow me," she paused. "It rides on my back."

○○○

"Lily, what's that on your shirt?" Remus Lupin asked, looking at her oddly.

"Oh," Lily groped the wet splotch that covered her middle, slightly hidden by her black robes. "Wendy nudged her ink bottle off of the table and into me in Transfiguration—on purpose, of course."

Remus sighed and pulled out his wand. With a swish and flick, the ink was gone when he muttered, "_Scourgefy._"

"Thanks Remus," she said gratefully. "I should remember that one."

"It's nothing, Lily," he replied. "But I definitely don't agree with what they're doing. It's just a (stupid) boy. Though, I am surprised that you have yet to break down." Lily grunted. James was the only one who had seen her break down and she made him promise not to tell. "I'm surprised at Wednesday the most, she usually doesn't care." Lily nodded.

"Francine has a lot more power over Wednesday than I do. They're a lot closer because they've been friends since…forever, really."

"Hey guys," Sirius walked into the library where Remus and Lily were studying, as usual. "What's new?" He took the seat next to Lily.

"Wednesday picking on Lily, but that's it," Remus said casually with a hint if anger in his voice showing that it really wasn't so casual.

"Jesus, what are those bitches problems?" Sirius said angrily.

"I brought it on myself by going out with Nat," Lily said. "It's fine."

"_No_, it is not _fine_, Lil. A guy liked you better than bitch-Francine, so what? Now she has a reason to try and ruin your life?" Sirius put his hand on Lily's and gave it a little squeeze, sending bolts of electricity up her spine. "It's definitely not fine."

"Hey, Lily? What can cure any poison again?" Remus asked, off topic. Sirius scowled at him.

"A beozar, Remus. Found at the bottom of a goat's stomach," Lily replied with ease. Remus wrote it down and stood up, packing all his books.

"I should go back to the common room and do the rest of my homework. Thanks for the potions help Lily," Remus waved goodbye and left. Sirius looked at Lily and Lily, feeling his eyes on her, looked up at him and smiled.

"Want to go for a walk, then?" he suggested. Lily nodded in agreement and shut her Transfiguration text book.

The sky was blue and cloudless, while the weather was reasonably warm. It was the perfect early autumn day at Hogwarts. It seemed that only a few people had a free period as there weren't many people outside.

Lily and Sirius walked down the steps from the front door and took in the scenery.

"It's a beautiful day out," Lily commented. Sirius smirked down at her.

"Perfect for a quick snog," he said suggestively. Lily laughed.

"And, of course, you're the expert on this."

The pair found themselves heading toward the Quidditch pitch. In the middle of the luscious grass were two people. From afar, Lily recognized who they were.

"Er—why don't we turn around, Sirius?" she said nervously, taking his arm to wheel him around. But it was too late—he had already seen them and they had seen Sirius and Lily and jumped on top of eachother into a deep kiss.

"Good Lord, the Quidditch pitch isn't the place for a good snog!" he said angrily and then mumbled, "It's the broom cupboard—the less space, the more you touch."

"Oh, Lily! What a surprise!" Francine gasped when she withdrew her mouth from Nat's.

"Do we have a new boyfriend?" Nat sneered. Sirius pulled out his wand and shouted "_Levicorpus!_" Nat's body propelled into the air, right foot first.

"No," Lily scoffed. "But I see Francine likes the used ones. So sorry I couldn't give him to you cheaper, Franny."

"You take that back you slut!" Francine yelled, pulling out her wand.

"And what if I don't?"

"_Eat slugs!_" An olive green light shot from the end of her wand, hitting Lily square in the stomach. Lily bent over immediately and several large slugs fell from her mouth.

"Undo it!" Lily heard Sirius yell over her retches and belches. A large pile of slugs slid around in opposite directions at her feet.

"No thanks, I'd rather not," Francine said happily. "And I don't even know how to—I heard it on the radio once. And don't bother going to the hospital wing, they'll just tell you to get it all out, not that you're really having any trouble there," she paused and looked down at Lily. "And don't tell either or there'll be more where that came from."

"Whatever," Sirius said, eyeing her down as he helped Lily up. "Good luck getting him down. Not sure anyone—except a few—can help you there."

"You take him down right now or—" Francine stopped. To add effect to her order she had been marching up to Sirius, getting close to Lily as well. When she was saying her sentence Lily had hurled some more slugs and they splattered all over her. Francine stood frozen for a moment. Only a moment. When that was up, she opened her mouth and screamed. Sirius laughed openly at her and Lily did too, through the constant slug-hurling.

"You clean that up now," Sirius chuckled holding Lily's forearm and leading her away, toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Falling down into the crunchy red, gold and orange of the fallen leaves, Lily continued to vomit slugs.

"This—is—disgusting," she said in between upchucks. Sirius patted her back.

"Yeah…it really is," he scrunched up his face.

"You—don't—have—t-to—to stay."

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Well, what if this is a serious danger to your health and while vomiting slugs you submit to…slug…poisoning and collapse? I'll be here to carry you to the hospital wing!"

"Oh, okay…" Lily retched out some more slugs. "I—_really_ don't like—slugs…"

Sirius looked at her more closely. Her skin was pale white and she looked so exhausted. "Lily…you're not looking so good…I mean, yeah, you're vomiting slugs but—" Lily had fallen to the ground into the pile of slugs. Sirius shook her by the shoulders. "Lily? Lily? Lily!" She didn't respond. Sirius picked her up, holding her with her legs over his left arm and her back supported by his right, and ran to the castle. All the classes had been let out the moment he ran in. People stared at him as he ran past. He saw Wednesday staring from a corner outside of the crowd, her face pale and scared. He passed by James who, once seeing Lily, ran with Sirius.

"What happened?" he asked loudly over all the voices that echoed the halls about homework, classes and, for the people who had seen, them.

"Francine did this weird spell on her and she started vomiting slugs and then she went pale and collapsed," Sirius explained as quickly as he could. "So I have to take her to the hospital wing…I mean, what could I have done for her?" James didn't answer Sirius' question. His face was contorted with rage.

"I'll go by and see her later…I have to talk to someone," he said and ran in the other direction toward the Gryffindor tower.

"Piggly figgly!" he shouted at the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Goodness! Don't need to be so rude!" she said angrily and swung open for him to enter.

"Francine Newborton!" he bellowed, scaring a group of first years doing homework by the fire. There was a thudding down the steps to the girls' dormitories and Francine came into view.

"What do you want, Potter?" she snapped.

"You're off the Quidditch team. I'm getting a new keeper."

"Well I figured that'd happen, after that _spectacular_ game I played," she said sarcastically.

"You shut up!"

"What? Does winning really mean that much to you? Because I don't care."

"It's not about that!" James hollered. "It's Lily! It's what you did to her!"

"It serves her right," Francine smirked. "That'll be the last time she gets smart with me."

"Sirius had to take her to the hospital wing."

"I told him not to do that, once she's finished getting all those slugs out it'll be done."

"It's not the slugs! She's collapsed and I'm bloody blaming you!"

Francine looked at him searchingly. "You're lying. I wouldn't do that to Lily if I knew she couldn't take it."

"Well, obviously, you don't know Lily well enough," James said angrily.

"What? And I suppose _you_ do? _You_ of all people, the one who Lily can't stand and won't say one good thing about? _You_ who is constantly playing practical jokes on her? I honestly can't say you know her any better than I do," Francine said furiously. She turned to walk back up the steps but didn't move. "If she is really in the hospital wing…I…I'm sorry." With that she disappeared up the stairs. James looked to the ground. Lily really did hate him. He shook off the feeling of disgust with himself and ran out of the common room toward the hospital wing. Whispers surrounded him as he passed. The school was talking about what had just happened. Some people, he heard, were saying that Lily was close to death. He didn't believe it though, he wouldn't. He needed to convince her that he wasn't all that bad. There was a crowd of people by the hospital wing door. James pushed past them and opened the door, closing it behind him quietly.

"Why are they doing this to me?" Lily whispered.

"I don't know, Lily," Sirius replied. The two of them had been alone before James entered silently. Lily was in the hospital wing bed with her arms around Sirius and her face on his chest. Sirius had his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"I didn't do anything mean to them, not like this," she sniffed. Suddenly she hiccupped. "Oops, slug," she laughed a bit, but it wasn't a really happy laugh.

"It's fine," Sirius chuckled. "I knew slugs were gross, but I didn't expect you to faint from them."

"They were coming out of my _mouth_, Sirius," Lily reminded him. "But I didn't expect to faint—"

"Or get a fever," Sirius added.

"Yes, that too. I didn't expect to faint and get a fever from them either. I'm glad it's over," she breathed in heavily. "You smell good."

"Thanks," he smiled. "You do too, surprisingly—not that you normally don't! I mean, surprisingly after throwing up slugs."

"Why thank you."

James decided to speak up now. "Lily? Are you alright?" Lily pulled herself from Sirius when her name was said.

"Y-yes, thanks, James," she said sadly and then flung her hands up to her mouth. "I meant Potter!" James merely nodded, flattered that she had called him by his first name as she normally didn't but at the same time disappointed because she had corrected herself.

"So who did you have to talk to?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, it was Francine. I kicked her off of the team," James replied. "I had to do it sooner or later anyways; I threatened her at the game. I also told her that Lily was in the hospital wing."

"You idiot!" Lily said loudly. "I don't want her to know that! She'll bother me even more…if I pretend not to care that it happened she'll stop but now that she knows she's gotten to me…"

"Relax, Lil," Sirius said calmly. "James was right. If she knows that you're here, the stuff she does will probably start to stop because she'll feel guilty."

Lily thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "I guess you're right, Sirius," she said. James' mouth fell open. It was _him_ who had told Francine. Wasn't _he_ the right one? At that moment the door burst open. Standing at the threshold were Remus and Peter. Remus' facial expression showed sheer anger and Peter was trying to copy, only coming up with a look of constipation.

"Remus!" Lily exclaimed, ignoring Peter.

"Are you alright, Lily?" Remus asked, storming up to her bed and kneeling beside it.

"Yes, much better, thanks," Lily said, hiccupping and another small slug popping out.

"Thank God," Remus said, relieved. "People were saying you were close to death and I know I shouldn't be listening to rumors or anything but that was serious and if you were actually about to die I'd hurt Francine with the strongest and most dangerous curse I could think of." James had never heard Remus threaten anyone before.

"Wow, calm down, Moony. Don't go doing anything _unforgivable_," Sirius said looking at Remus, smirking.

"Oh, of course not," Remus said quickly. "It's just, they would have taken her life if those rumors were true and Lily were close to death…well I'd say that's pretty unforgivable anyways."

"Thanks, guys," Lily said looking at all of them (well, everyone but Peter—her eyes skipped over him). "Really…I'm so lucky to have friends like you…" Her eyes filled with tears but she didn't let them fall. She was determined not to look anymore hopeless than she had managed to already. Sirius held her tighter. James looked to the ground. Something inside of him didn't feel right when he looked at both of them. He didn't like it either. He had never really felt that way before.

"I should—er—go…" James stated turning to the door.

"James," Lily's voice said quietly. "Thanks…I think I misjudged you…" James smirked and continued out the door, pulling the snitch he had nicked out of his pocket and letting it escape in the air, catching it with ease.

○○○

"Hey Lily!" James called to her after Transfiguration.

"Hi S—oh," Lily said, her face falling slightly. "Hey Potter." James pretended not to notice that she had mistaken him for someone else, there were a lot of people around and it would have been easy to get confused.

"Did you understand everything in class?" he asked. Lily shook her head.

"Wendy was sleeping…as usual."

"Oh, I see." An idea popped into his head. "Hey, I could help you out…like a tutor?" Lily snapped her head to look at him. '_Did I say the wrong thing?_' were his immediate thoughts. It was just an idea—a way for Lily to get better marks ('_and for her to like me more. WAIT, no. To flirt with her and…you know…er…tap that…_'). But, surprisingly to James, she smiled at him.

"I'd like that, thanks James," she said kindly. "When should we meet?"

"Um, this coming Saturday at six o'clock?" James suggested.

"Oh, jeez, that's so far away. It's Monday today so I can't really make any promises," Lily said looking to the ground. James' face fell. Why wouldn't she be able to make any promises for Saturday? But then, "Actually, never mind. Yeah, I'll definitely be there." James beamed at her. "So, we're off to Potions now, right?"

"Yeah," James said, looking forward. "I hope I don't do too badly. I suck at Potions."

"Sit with me. I'll help you," Lily said. James looked down at her, surprised. "I mean to return the favor. It's only fair."

"Alright class," Professor Slughorn said loudly when every one was at their tables. James was sharing a table with Remus, Sirius and, as suggested, Lily. "Turn your copies of _Advanced Potion-Making_ to page ten. We will be making the potion the Draught of the Living Dead. You have an hour—_read the instructions carefully_. The person with the best potion will get a treat. You may begin."

The sounds of people flipping through their text books and pulling out ingredients filled the room. Lily went and got everyone their ingredients while the others waited at the table.

"Should I go help her?" Remus asked.

"She'll be fine," Sirius assured him. "She knows what she's getting."

"No, I didn't mean that, I meant the amount that she has to get, will she need help?" But at that moment Lily came walking over with the ingredients charmed above her head securely. Sirius turned to Remus and smirked as if it was obvious that she would use magic instead of carrying the ingredients the Muggle way.

"Alright, let's begin," Lily said, tying her shoulder-length auburn hair. The four of them went to work, silently readying their ingredients.

"Lily," James began, looking over at her. "The book says that you should be chopping the Sopophorus Beans, not crushing them."

"I know what the book says," she replied, still crushing the beans. "But the juice is getting out a lot better, isn't it?" James looked down at his chopped up Sopophorus Beans. It was true. The juice was oozing out of the ones that Lily was crushing. Lily, seeing his expression, took his chopped up ones and began crushing them for him until a pool of juice was around it.

"Just add that in."

"Wow, thanks Lily."

Lily scribbled something in her book. Remus looked at her, his eyes widening. "Hey, you're _writing_ in that book!"

Sirius scoffed. "Calm down Moony, it's not gonna kill anyone."

"I'm writing for future reference. In most Potions classes I try out new things. It was Sev—" Lily stopped and looked longingly across the classroom to Severus Snape who was, coincidentally, in the middle of crushing his Sopophorus Beans and writing into his book. "Yeah, well, I like to remember how to do things. I've done it since the second year. I'm going to keep this copy anyways; it'll be a nice school memory." James and Remus exchanged glances. Sirius, however, thought this not to be weird at all.

"Good idea," he said and peered down in his book, writing down something. "What I wrote to try out is, 'Listen to Lily, she's good at Potions'." Although what Sirius wrote was extremely lame, Lily laughed anyways. James hoped it was out of pity or the girl he like—_wanted to 'tap'_ had a very bad sense of humor.

The whole class continued to work and not a word uttered out of anyone's mouth. Professor Slughorn's prizes were often interesting. The last time they had him his prize was Felix Felicis, which Snape had won (not to Lily's liking). Most of the time the prize would be invitations to the Slug Club parties, which the people who won were already part of and were going anyways, but apparently they were really fun so the others would try really hard to get in.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…one, two, three, four, five, six, seven," Lily counted quietly after a while. James looked into her cauldron. The lilac, which was the shade the potion should be, was definitely lightening. But Lily was stirring wrong. She'd do seven stirs counter-clockwise followed by a clockwise stir. Noticing his eyes on her potion, Lily whispered between 'two' and 'three' "Trying something new." James copied her; his potion which was a not-quite-lilac began to lighten to a bluish-clear.

"Done!" Lily exclaimed in a whisper and wrote down a note in her text book again. James continued to stir but the color did not change.

"As done as I'm going to get," he mumbled, moving away from the cauldron. Sirius and Remus finished soon after and finally Professor Slughorn announced that they were all finished and began walking around the room to inspect each student's cauldron.

"Good, good," he'd say every few moments. "Oh my, Avery! Are you sure you read the right page? This looks more like the Poison of Narcisscia with its viscous-looking texture and golden-white color. Yes, I'd say it is. Good effort though." Slughorn moved onto Rodolphus Lestrange's cauldron. "Wonderful, as usual—you're nearly there Rod! Oh, and now we have Severus." He looked into Snape's cauldron. Sirius mocked him quietly but in an inappropriate voice ("_Oh! Severusss!_"). Their whole table laughed behind their hands.

"Perfect, of course," continued Slughorn, who had not heard Sirius' comment. He moved onto the last table, which was theirs. "Remus…it's okay. Purple though, are you sure you put enough Sopophorus Bean juice in it? Sirius, yes, quite like Lestrange—almost there. James, this is an improvement. Yes, very close as well and Lily," he looked down into Lily cauldron. "Amazing! Yes, yes, I do believe that it is a tie between Lily and Severus. My prize is an invitation to my party but, as you two are already attending, I will give the invitation to someone else—Mr. Potter. Your potion would be third-best. So yes, you win for today!" James beamed. "Oh, and to those of you attending, you may bring whoever you like. It is on Saturday at six o'clock in my office. Oh, and you are all dismissed—slightly early with all the hard work and nearly-perfect potions." Everyone collected their books together and walked out of the dungeon.

"I can't believe I actually did it right!" James beamed. He put an arm around Lily. "Thanks, really." He withdrew his arm as quickly has he put it there. Lily's cheeks were a little red from the gesture—James had never been so friendly before!

"It's no problem. But there is_ another problem_," she said.James looked at her quizzically. "You were going to tutor me in Transfiguration."

"Oh," he said. "Well, we can do that at noon!"

"Sounds great, a study group!" Sirius butt in. "I was hoping if you could help me out with my Muggle Studies assignment, Lily—we're learning about electrikirty or something and I don't quite understand."

"Alright, sure," Lily replied.

James shot a glare at Sirius, who didn't notice as he was staring at Lily with a smile stamped on his face. Lily smiled back at him and then looked forward, the smile vanishing at once. Quickly looking forward, he noticed Francine coming up.

"Oh hey, Lily. You look great! A little _sluggish_ though and I don't think it's because of Potions," she smirked. Pulling out her wand, Francine pointed it at Lily's books and they fell to the ground. "Collapsed my_ ass_."

"Why do you have to be such a bitch, Francine?" Sirius asked as Lily went down to the ground to collect all her books. He went down to help her and bumped his forehead into hers.

"Oops, sorry Lils," he said, picking up her Charms text book and notebook.

"It's okay," Lily giggled, why she giggled was a mystery. They both sat squatted on the floor staring into each other's eyes until Remus coughed.

"Oh, right, here you are," Sirius smiled, handing her the books.

"Thanks," she took them and added them to the pile in her hands. James looked from one to the other. _Something_ was different.

* * *

**A/N:** Bonjour! Thanks for reading the second chapter—took a little longer to get this done(okay, a few hours but I apologise anyways!). Before you correcting-reviewer-demons go and correct me for something, I'll explain one of the ones you might correct because this is the only thing I know you're going to correct. JAMES POTTER WAS A CHASER. J.K. Rowling stated in an interview that he was and if you check up his profile on Wikipedia you'll see that too. I wasn't going to change it at first when I found out but thought against not changing it. In my other story I screwed up the fact that everyone in the Black family was named after a constellation and that pissed me off because I found a really cool name but as I had already posted the first two chapters it would have been weird to the people who had already read it. But I can't imagine James as anything else but a seeker so I improvised and made him a substitute for McLaggin who I made up but recall someone with the same or a similar last name to him in the book.  
Haha, when Remus got rid of the stain on Lily's shirt I was so tempted to write '_Tide-to-goius!_' but since I knew the right spell (or at least I'm pretty sure that's the one, maybe they have a list of spells on Wiki? The spell may change...) I used it.  
I was suffering from a bit of writers block on Saturday and Sunday so I finished it today—whoot! Yeah. I feel really accomplished even though I only wrote three more pages to finish it.  
MY INSPIRATION FOR THIS CHAPTER: was the actual song. Though its been that way since last chapter. HARHAR. So yes, download There's A Class For This by Cute Is What We Aim For and while you're at it, download Newport Living too. I'll tell you to download the song every week and you will listen to it and ENJOY:) 

**COMMENT BIATCHES - **der you goes.

And, as promised...  
**Fun fact:** In the draft of this story, Francine's name was actually George. I changed it afterward because George and Wednesday don't sound like duo kind of names to me. And if you want to know why I chose these names, Wednesday: The Adams Family as I pictured her originally to look like Wednesday from that but now she looks more like Emily the Weird. George: Nancy Drew! I don't know, I always found that to be a cool name. Francine: Arthur because, damn it, who doesn't love Arthur? And who doesn't imagine Francine and Arthur getting married someday and having children? If it weren't for the fact that Muffy was actually normal looking, Francine might today be Muffy. :)  
**Line from song:** I have written, _"No, drama doesn't follow me," she paused. "It rides on my back."_ The line in the song I was using is "drama doesn't follow me it rides on my back". Yeah, these'll change from being exact to the song in a few chapters—NEXT CHAPTER IN FACT.  
Shpank ya for reading. Pass on the story to your little Harry Potter obsessed friends.  
Posting a story sometime next week/end,  
Itazu.  
_17/09/07_


	3. Finger Twist & Split

Lily Evans shut the door to the prefects' bathroom quietly behind her. She had just taken an extra long bath to think about things so far at Hogwarts. For one, she had lost her two closest friends. Normally this would have been horrible and she would be sad about it for quite some time but to her surprise it was quite the opposite. She had made new friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter. Sirius and Remus had been there for her all along. They were always willing to give a hand and valued their relationship with her. James was the one Lily was most surprised with. He was usually an arrogant, big-headed snob, in her opinion, but he had managed to show her that he was also caring and nice.

But of all three boys the one she had thought about most was Sirius Black. Why she was not entirely sure. He, James and Remus were all equally gorgeous and popular. Even girls in their seventh year would be found flirting with them. Lily didn't know how Sirius was different.

It might have been how much he flirted. Most girls found that attractive and Lily believed she did too. But she knew there was more to that. It was his expressive eyes that looked down at her kindly every time she saw them. His black hair that curled out naturally. His high-set rosy cheeks and his gorgeous chin with the cute dimple in the middle. His lips that gave a knowing smile and only spoke kindly to her. His lips that she so often dreamt about.

A shiver went down her spine. She wrapped her arms around herself. During that long bath she had come to realize that she liked Sirius—a lot.

"Must be pretty deep thoughts. So deep you can't do anything else while thinking them," a voice said close by. Lily stopped thinking immediately. She knew the voice.

"Sirius?"

"Over here," he said. Lily turned, seeing him not too far to the right of her. "So, about these thoughts," Sirius continued.

"What are you doing here?" Lily cut in. Sirius' face fell.

"Detention with Filch. _So about these thoughts_," he continued, once again. "Did they happen to have anything to do with me?" Lily blushed furiously.

"N-no," she stuttered.

"Hmm," Sirius said, again with his knowing smile.

"Francine and Wednesday have stopped picking on me completely," she said, trying to change the subjects before she embarrassed herself.

"Well I wasn't fooled after Potions on Monday. It's only four days since then—that could mean anything—they could be carefully plotting against you!" he replied, the knowing smile still on his face.

"Stop that," Lily said after a silence in which Sirius continued smiling.

"Stop what?"

"That-that smile."

"You don't want me to smile?"

"No, I just don't want you to smile that smile."

"What if it's my only smile?"

"But it isn't," Lily said. "Your other one—normal one—makes me feel comfortable."

"Hmm," Sirius said, knowing smile still stamped on. "What is it about my smile that you like, Lily Evans?"

'_The fact that it makes me feel warm inside and sends shivers up my spine. The way it reaches your whole face and makes me feel better when I'm sad. How the smile is made with your lips that I love._' No, Lily couldn't say that.

"Lily?"

"Oh!" She had been staring at his lips! "What was the question again?"

"What is it about my smile that you like?" Lily was starting to like his knowing smile—that bothered her. But she couldn't help it.

"Well, it's just a smile—it's happy, I guess," she said, looking at the floor.

"It might be just a smile, but you can like certain aspects of it, or at least I can," Sirius explained still looking at Lily. "Like your smile."

Lily looked up at him, surprised. "My smile?" Sirius stepped closer to her.

"Your smile is beautiful—I love how you show off you teeth just a little bit," he looked into her eyes, his 'normal' smile curling his lips. He took another step toward her. "Your smile lights up your eyes. I love your eyes." He took another step toward her. Lily stepped back fully aware that the wall was close by. "When you smile you blush the slightest bit, it's cute, really." Once again he stepped forward. Lily stepped back and bumped into the wall. "But most of all…" His right hand slipped around her waist. "…I like…" He brought his face close to hers. "Your lips," he whispered, cupping her chin in his free hand. She could feel his breath on her face. She looked into his gray eyes. His eyes stared into hers.

"Don't want to miss curfew, do we?" he said after a long time, taking his arms off of her waist, his hand away from her chin and turning around. "Piggly figgly," he said to the portrait of the Fat Lady that Lily hadn't noticed was there. The door swung open and he held onto it. Lily had not moved. "You alright, Lily?" he asked. Lily nodded, too afraid that if she spoke she'd make no sense. Lazily she walked into the common room before Sirius, wanting badly to sleep. She was surprised at what he had done, annoyed that he hadn't kissed her and confused, most of all, if he felt the same for her.

"Night, Lil," he said before disappearing up the steps to the boys' dormitories. Lily didn't reply. She went up the steps to the girls' dormitories, ignoring Francine and Wednesday who greeted her cheerfully when she entered, and flopped down onto her bed.

"Who do you like now?" Wednesday asked airily, looking down on Lily. Lily sighed in response—not an annoyed sigh.

"She looks like she's lost her virginity," Francine commented, now too looking over her. "That's what I looked like when I looked into the mirror after it." Wednesday's head snapped to look at Francine and Lily shot up, blacking out from the sudden movement.

"What?" they exclaimed in unison.

"What can I say? I was young," Francine said weakly, turning her back to them.

"I remember that! That was last week, wasn't it?" Wednesday said. Francine visibly tensed up. "With Nat!" Lily looked at Francine.

"And who said _I_ was a whore?"

"My personal life is none of your business, Wendy. Nor is it yours, Lily," Francine said angrily. Lily shrugged and got into her bed and started to pull the curtains around it.

"Wait, Lil!" Francine held open one of the curtains.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she said and looked down. "I was really mean to you and I'm sorry. Wendy, apologize too. I saw that wet splotch on her robes after Transfiguration."

"That was an accident," Wednesday said blankly. "But I am sorry, Lily. I've been avoiding and not talking to you."

Lily looked from Francine to Wednesday. It seemed as if that evening was falling into place; first Sirius had told her he liked her smile and nearly kissed her (which she was disappointed that he hadn't). And now Francine and Wednesday were apologizing to her.

"Hmph," was all she said before taking the curtain out of Francine's grasp and pulling it the rest of the way around her bed.

"That's not much of an answer, I want my friend back!" Lily heard Francine whisper.

"She'll come around," Wednesday replied.

"How do you know?"

"Well she did with James, didn't she?"

○○○

"Hello, boys," Sirius nodded to the three boys that were sitting in the sixth-year boys' dormitories when he entered.

"How was detention?" Remus asked, face buried in a book on Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had given up on trying learning Potions after receiving a horrible mark on the past test they had, coming to realize that no matter what he did it wouldn't work as Potions and Remus definitely didn't mix. He was still going to try; he'd just stop reading so many books on theory as he knew that inside out.

"Good, but what happened afterward was better," Sirius smirked.

"Er—seeing us?" James asked, putting the snitch he had been throwing and catching into his pocket.

"No, I can see you anytime," Sirius scoffed. "It was the walk back. I met up with _Leelee_." James stood up.

"Leelee—Lily? Like, Lily Evans? That Lily?" he asked.

"That's the one!" Sirius pointed at James enthusiastically.

"You can see Lily anytime too," Peter said. "Or…have you asked her out yet?"

"_Yet_?" James asked, looking from Peter to Sirius. "Why would you ask her out? That's just silly!"

"Prongs, if you haven't seen it then you must truly be clueless," Remus said, shutting his book. "Obviously Padfoot likes Lily. Anyways," he turned back to Sirius. "Continue."

"She was just standing outside of the—"

"You like Lily?" James asked Sirius, cutting him off.

"YES," Sirius said loudly. "Now can I tell you what Lily and I did after my detention?"

Peter's eyes grew wide, a smile that showed off his uneven teeth spread across his face. "You _didn't_. We can't do _that_ on school grounds without getting caught, I'm sure."

"God, Wormtail, you retard. _No_ we did not do _that_, don't wet your pants in excitement," Sirius said harshly. He reconsidered it, saying aloud, "But someday we might." He looked dreamily up to the ceiling. Meanwhile, James had sat down on his bed in shock. Sirius and Lily? The thought of the two of them together bothered him. He felt anger twisting his insides and like everything was over, not entirely sure why. Looking up he realized Remus' eyes on him, studying him. James hated it when Remus did that. He was sure that Remus would pull him aside sometime later and tell him about his analysis. '_But I don't like her like that,_' James thought. And then he questioned why he thought that Remus would realize that he liked Lily—even though he most definitely didn't. James looked up again seeing Remus' eyes still on him. He had suspected that Sirius liked Lily and even noticed the two flirting but he denied it every time he thought of it, feeling the same depressing drop in his insides.

"Well, why Lily? Why do you like her?" James asked.

"I don't know. I guess it's because of how different she is from other girls…she is more real than anyone else I've met and her eyes…those eyes…" Sirius trailed off and stared at the wall for a while. When realizing he had stopped and was sounding unlike himself, he shook his head and said, "Plus, she's totally _hot_."

"But Francine is rather more attractive that Lily," Peter said, looking at Sirius as if Sirius was his king or something deserving of high-respect like it.

"Wormtail, you must understand that not all Veela are truly attractive. You have to know the way about finding out. Try looking at Francine upside-down next time," Sirius responded.

"Why were you looking at her upside-down?" Remus asked exasperatedly.

"I dropped my wand. Anyways, I saw her and Lily together when they were still friends. Did you know that her true hair color is black, her skin's really pale and that her eyes are actually gray? Well, I guess each Veela has their masks."

"Are you sure it wasn't Wendy you were looking at upside-down?" Remus asked.

"Who's Wendy?"

"You know, Wednesday Lurry, usually found with Francine. Airy voice, slightly Scottish accent?"

"Who the hell's that—OH! Yeah, I know _her_," Sirius said, sounding disappointed. "That _was_ her. I wonder why I can never tell who she is."

"Maybe you're ignorant to her because she isn't as beautiful as the other girls?" Peter suggested.

"Are you calling me shallow, Wormtail?" Sirius snapped.

"No, no, of course not," Peter whimpered.

"So what did you do?" James asked, not particularly caring about which angle Francine looks not-so-hot at. Sirius told the events that happened that night, a broad smile on his face.

"So you just left her wondering?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, but now I know she likes me back. Oh, you should have seen her staring at my lips!"

"And then you just pushed away," James said flatly. "That wasn't nice."

"Shut up, Prongs. Stop being so moody, just because I know how to get a girl better than you do," Sirius scowled.

"It's not that, I'm saying that what you did was pretty faggy!" James said angrily.

"Well not really," Remus began. "What Padfoot did wasn't piggish or anything. He just merely left her confused, which is okay. Let's just hope that she likes him back."

"Hope that she likes him back? How could you—!" James clapped his hand over his mouth. Why was he so mad? It's not as if Sirius really did anything wrong…but James felt that it was wrong. What was wrong? He breathed in. "Sorry. I'm a little tired—"

"A little?" Sirius asked sharply. "With that spaz right there, I'd say you're really tired." James glared at Sirius.

"I'm going to bed," he said slowly, fighting the urge to punch his best friend.

○○○

It was not Sirius' fault, James had concluded after hours of lying awake with his eyes closed, thinking. Sirius was his best friend, James trusted him. It was Lily. What exactly she had done, he was not sure. All he knew was that it was her fault.

Now he sat at the breakfast table on Saturday morning stabbing his scrambled eggs.

"Wow there," Sirius said, observing his friend. "Don't want to go killing them." James grunted and continued to stab furiously.

"Why is Prongs so mad, Moony?" Peter asked Remus.

"I'm right here, Wormtail. But go ahead and ask as if I'm not," James snapped. At that moment Lily walked in, Francine and Wednesday close behind. She stood at the door, searching the hall and found her mark, walking toward it.

"Wow there," Lily said, sliding next to Sirius—but not too close to him. "Don't want to go killing your eggs."

James looked up at her, seeing red. "How-ironic-that-you-and-Sirius-would-say-the-same-thing," he said slowly, through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you did too?" she asked, turning to Sirius.

"Yeah, I did, actually. You know what they say, great minds think alike," he said. The two laughed. Francine and Wednesday took the seats beside Lily.

"Oh, I see you've made up with that lot then," James nodded his head over to the other two.

"Er…" Lily looked over, somewhat nervously, to Francine and Wednesday. "Well, they've apologized."

"And simple apology is good enough?" James asked his eyes thinned.

"Well, at least they've apologized, right?"

"Yeah I guess. I mean, it's not like what they did to you was anything serious, so a simple apology is honestly the best that they can do."

Lily looked at James, her eyebrows raised. "_Okay then_. Anyways, you said you'd tutor me on Transfiguration today. And afterward I'll be tutoring Sirius on Muggle Studies. Are you still up for that…?"

"Of course I am," he snapped.

"Well, it's almost noon," Sirius said, looking at his watch. "Want to go now? Bring some food with you."

"Okay," Lily said, taking a croissant. "I'm not a big breakfast eater. Oh, and I need to go back to the dormitories. I forgot my Transfiguration text book."

"Okay then. You coming, James?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," James replied bitterly and stood up and followed Lily to the dormitories, Sirius following a step behind.

"It's not working!" Lily exclaimed, pointing her wand to her eyebrow and muttering the incantation. "My eyebrow isn't yellow!" She looked into her mirror. "It's pink."

"Well you have to concentrate," James said kindly although he was starting to get frustrated. He pointed his wand to his successfully yellow eyebrow, changing it back to normal. "I guess that the fact you're at least changing its color is a good sign."

"Yes but I'm not actually doing it, am I?" Lily snapped. She was frustrated as she was used to getting things on the first try. It seemed as if missing all those Transfiguration classes because of Wednesday weren't paying off. "Why isn't it working?" she asked once again.

"Hey, Lily. Try pointing your wand closer to your eyebrow," Sirius suggested over his open Muggle Studies text, which he hadn't actually been reading, just pretending to. Lily looked at him, sighed, and then tried it. Her eyebrow turned yellow.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Sirius! You're the best! Thanks so much!"

James looked at her and then to Sirius and scowled. That falling feeling in his stomach was back again. He wanted to leave. _Needed_ to leave.

"Well, since you've got it, I'll go," James stood up and put his wand into his pocket.

"Okay, see you James," Lily said, waving as he walked away. This also hit a nerve. '_She doesn't even care…_'

"So, Muggle Studies," Sirius said, poking the top of his book, which he had standing up, letting it fall with a _thud_ onto the table.

"Muggle Studies," Lily repeated, nodding. "You said you didn't understand electricity?"

"No, not that. I completely understand electricity. What I don't understand is eleckitry," Sirius corrected her.

"But there's no such thing as _eleckitry_," she said.

"Oh. Right, well since now there's no point in studying, could you explain some other Muggle things to me?"

"Okay."

"What's the point of a motorbike?"

"It's like a bike running on a motor."

"And what's a bike?"

Lily explained bikes, motors, motorbikes, cars, rubber chickens, microwaves, ovens and some more Muggle appliances to Sirius for the next few hours, Sirius laughing at some of the things that would seem completely crazy to any magical-person.

"Cars need gas to run?" Sirius laughed. "They must _really_ stink."

"Actually gas has no smell but they add the smell to it when we get it at the gas stations so that we don't mix the gas up with water."

"How would you mix gas up with water?"

"Well, you see, gas is a liquid."

"Is that why some people get wet—"

"Don't even go there," Lily said quickly before Sirius could say the rest of his sentence. "This isn't the same gas."

"Oh," Sirius said sadly. He looked at his watch. "Wow! It's five o'clock already!"

"Is it really?" Lily asked, pulling his arm toward her. It _was_ that time. She put her head down on the table.

"What is it, Lil?" Sirius asked, playing with a piece of her hair.

"I just remembered Professor Slughorn's party," she said.

"Oh, I see," he said, taking his hand away and standing up. "Well you should get ready for that." Lily stood up as well. She hadn't yet found anyone to go with. But then it came to her.

"Hey, Sirius," she began. Sirius looked down at her.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to come with me?"

"Do I want to come with you where?"

"You know Professor Slughorn's party."

"Oh," Sirius paused. Lily looked up at him.

'_No, no. Of course he doesn't._'

"Sure," Sirius said, against what she was thinking. "I would love to go with you, Lily Evans." Lily beamed.

○○○

Lily applied some lip gloss to her full lips in front of the mirror in the girls' dormitories.

"So, you and Sirius, huh?" Francine said, sitting on her bed. Lily rubbed her lips together and put the tube of lip gloss away.

"How'd you find out?"

"Well, you know Cinnamon Brown. She can't keep her mouth shut about gossip. Especially when it has anything to do with Sirius. And most especially when she witnessed you asking him," Francine said, looking at Lily who was looking down at her with a confused expression.

"I didn't realize anyone saw," she said.

"So, do you really like Sirius? You're not lying about it this time?"

"Who said that I liked him? I've only asked him to Professor Slughorn's party."

"No one did, or at least not in words. But the way your face goes when you're around him. I mean, I could have believed that you liked Sirius before as you'd blush whenever he was around and talked to you but now…well it's really obvious, unless you're lying again and are really good at acting. Like Wendy."

"What!" Lily put her hands on her temples. "But I thought I was hiding it so well!"

"Well, you weren't. Don't worry. He likes you back, I can tell that too," Francine assured her.

"You are his _heartthrob_," Wednesday said, the last word said breathlessly. Both Lily and Francine looked over at her and then shook their heads, knowing to ignore those kinds of comments Wednesday made.

"So, have you forgiven us?" Francine asked timidly.

"I—" Lily stopped. James was mad that morning that she was even letting them go with her to breakfast. What would he do if she had found out that she had forgiven them? '_What do I care what James thinks?_' she thought. "I think I have…just hopefully nothing like that comes between us again."

"You've put on cologne," Lily said, smelling it coming off of Sirius when she walked into the common room to find him waiting for her, handsome as ever.

"Yep. And you've put on perfume," Sirius commented, casually swinging his arm around Lily's shoulders. Lily tensed up immediately. Sirius smirked at this; he liked having that affect on girls.

"D-did you hear that Professor Slughorn would be having a player from the Irish National Team coming," Lily said after a bit of walking. They were almost at the dungeons.

"What? Are you serious?" Sirius exclaimed. "Which one is it?"

"Rob—"

"Robbins! Dewy Robbins at Slughorn's party! It's like a dream!" Sirius said excitedly. Lily smiled up at him.

Professor Slughorn's room looked as if it had been taking straight out of a castle. With magic the ceiling had been elevated by about seven feet and four golden cloths draped themselves from the center of the ceiling out to the corners of the room. Trays were perched on the backs of hummingbirds that zoomed to each person who would put their hand up or ask for one, the trays not spilling the tall glasses of Butterbeer. Music was being played from the front where a small stage had been constructed with magically playing instruments perched on top. People were dancing in the middle of the floor while others ate at the buffet tables lined along the walls right and left.

"Ah! Lily!" Professor Slughorn bounced through the crowds of people to meet his most prized student. A tall man with jet black hair, thick eyebrows and a strong build walked close behind him. "May I introduce—"

"Dewy Robbins!" Sirius exclaimed in place of Professor Slughorn, who, once being cut off, merely nodded. "Sirius Black, it's a pleasure," Sirius said, sticking out his hand.

"Black? Of the great family Black?" Dewy asked, taking Sirius' hand. Sirius' face fell.

"Yes…unfortunately," he said quietly.

"Well, yes. Dewy, this is Lily Evans. She's _nearly_ as good as you at Potions," he said, winking at Lily and, when Dewy looked at her, mouthed, "That's not true, don't worry."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Robbins," Lily smiled and shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Evans. You are beautiful," Dewy complimented. Sirius didn't act as if it had bothered him. Lily took note of this. Behind them, the door opened and closed.

"Oh! And this is James Potter—a natural with the broom. A chaser as well," Professor Slughorn said to Dewy before calling, "James!"

James looked over and immediately grimaced at the sight of Lily and Sirius beside each other.

"Hello, Professor Slughorn. Thanks so much for inviting me," James said, not taking his eyes off of Lily. She really did look beautiful. She had her shoulder-length auburn hair tied up in a ponytail and wore a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up, a jean skirt that hit mid-thigh and a bit of make up. She, unlike other girls, had applied her mascara beautifully, unlike other girls, due to her steady hand which James had noticed earlier that day when she moved her wand while he was tutoring her for Transfiguration.

"Perhaps we can fly later on the Quidditch pitch," Dewy suggested. "I must say, Professor, the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch is amazing."

"Yes, it is. The very best of all the magical schools. I've never been to the others, of course, well except for Beauxbatons during the Muggle war to ensure that everyone there was safe—I care not only for the Hogwarts students—but I have connections. And these people tell me that Hogwarts is the best," Professor Slughorn bragged. He and Dewy began to chat some more, walking toward the buffet table. Once they were gone, only Sirius, James and Lily stood.

"Butterbeer, anyone?" Lily asked nervously, glancing at both of them. Sirius was staring longingly at Dewy while James was staring at her, scowling. She put her hand up and a hummingbird zoomed over, three Butterbeers perched on its tray. "Thank you," she said to the hummingbird, absentmindedly. Surprisingly, the hummingbird nodded in acknowledgement before zooming away. Lily placed one of the glasses in Sirius' hands (who flinched when its cold hit his skin) and she offered one to James.

"No thanks," he said coldly.

"But I just got this for you," she said.

"Well maybe you should have asked instead of assumed?"

"I _did_ ask and you didn't respond."

"So you think that no response means yes?"

"I was just trying to be nice!"

"Well you didn't try hard enough."

"Will you stop being so immature?" Lily asked, exasperatedly. "Just take the damn drink, my hands are freezing!" She thrust the Buterbeer into his hands. He grimaced at her. Lily took Sirius' hand and pulled him away. "Come on, Sirius. I'm a bit hungry." James stood there, alone and dumbfounded.

"Aw, look at who's alone," an evil voice said behind him. He turned around, finding himself face to face with Bellatrix Black, Sirius' cousin who was in the seventh year.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing," she sighed, looking away. Bellatrix, like all of the Black family, was stunning but in a creepy way. She had pale skin and heavy lidded eyes. Her black hair was usually really frizzy but it did not take away from her good looks. "I see you've been ditched. But then again, who'd want to be with you? And what are you even doing here anyways? This is Professor Slughorn's party; I doubt he'd invite a twit like you."

"Well he did," James replied. "Can you please leave me alone?" Bellatrix cackled.

"Of course, Jamesie, I will. And to think I was going to ask you to dance," she said, turning around. "Rodolphus! Dance with me!" Before she ran to dance with Rodolphus, a thin boy who always looked like he was going to wet his pants in fear, she said to James, "Don't think you've got this school in the palm of your hand for much longer, Jamesie. Times _will_ change and I assure you, you'll be forced to as well." With that she left James. James stood there for a moment, confused. He shook it off and headed to the buffet tables to talk some more with Dewy.

Lily felt the heat of Sirius' boy against hers. It'd leave for a moment and then it'd come back again. She was getting dizzy but ignored it. She was having a good time.

"You said you couldn't dance!" Sirius exclaimed happily.

"I can't! We're not exactly dancing, you know," Lily said, trying to keep herself from falling over. "Just spinning. Or really, I'm just spinning. You're pushing me away and then pulling me in."

"True," Sirius said, pulling Lily in again and then forcing her to lean back as he dropped his arm a bit. He moved his face closer to her and she blushed furiously. "Did I say that you look really pretty tonight?"

"No, but you really didn't have to," Lily said, her heart racing. The faster paced music had stopped and now a slower tune played. Sirius pulled her up and placed her arms around his neck. He took his arms and put them around her waist. They were rather close.

"Are you easy to get to?" Sirius asked his knowing smile suddenly on his face.

"Easy to get to? What do you mean?" Lily asked, looking into his eyes.

"Well," he began, pulling her slightly closer. "On your first date with Nat you were snogging him five minutes in."

"How do you know that it was my first date with him?"

"Lily, honestly, everyone would have known if you'd gone out with him more times than that. The pictures around the school do talk and we do have a lot of chatter boxes like that Cinnamon Brown."

"Well, if you mean that I normally snog a guy right away, then no. But Nat was…well he was different. I had liked him for some time and it was as if something in me went off, kind of. I think I pretty much did what he had planned the whole time—not that snogging's bad or anything. Wait…why am I telling you this?"

"Because I asked."

"And why did you ask?"

Sirius shrugged. "Just wondering…"

They danced silently for a while after that. The song was a long one, so it seemed. Sirius spoke again, "Hey Lily," he moved his right hand slowly up her back to her left shoulder blade. A shiver went down Lily's spine.

"Y-yes?"

"Do I make you nervous?"

"No," she said, forcing the words out. She _was_ nervous. She had been nervous around him ever since he had visited James in the hospital wing and talked to her. She had been even more nervous around him that day. After what had happened the night before, she was severely confused and had to pretend to be completely cool around him.

"Hmph," Sirius said, taking his arms away from Lily. She took her arms away from him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. He took her down the hall.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Liar," he said.

"What?"

"You're lying." He stopped in front of the broom cupboard. Opening the door, he pushed Lily in lightly and followed her in. It was really cramped. Lily stopped thinking about how uncomfortable she was when she felt Sirius' arms around her waist. Immediately she tensed up.

"Relax," he told her in a whisper. His face was closer to hers. "I've wanted to do this ever since…I've wanted to at least give you a…kiss," his lips brushed against hers but only for a second. The broom cupboard door flung open and Lily's head snapped to see who it was.

○○○

James' mouth was full of chocolate. He could now relate to how girls liked it so much, it really was a good feeling when you ate it. He had just finished his third chocolate frog.

"James Potter," Dewy Robbins had come up behind him.

"Hi, Mr. Robbins," James said, swallowing the last bit of chocolate in his mouth.

"Please, call me Dewy. I was wondering if you'd like to go out onto the Quidditch pitch now. I did not bring my broom with me so I must borrow one of the school's."

"Yes, of course," James said, leading him out of the room. "I'll use a school broom as well; it's too much of a hassle to get my own from my room."

The two walked down the dungeon halls, their footsteps echoing through the halls. James thought he heard whispers but ignored it. There would be no one in the halls this late if Sirius or he were both already out—they were the only ones at the school who dared do so.

"So…Lily," Dewy began. James' head snapped toward him. "She's a very beautiful girl, is she not?" James grunted.

"I'm sorry, I did not realize. You must be going out? Or maybe she is with that other fellow…Black was his name…"

"No, she's not going out with anyone," James said coldly.

"I see. Well, not for long, I'm sure. You like her then?" Dewy said, not noticing the ice in James' tone.

"No. I just want to go out with her," James said and then his eyes widened at what he had said. Why did he want to go out with her if he didn't like her? It didn't make any sense. "Er—I'd like to stop talking about this," he said politely.

"Okay, sure."

They had reached the broom cupboard.

"Sorry about the school brooms though, they're hardly good at all. You can't go too fast on them—" He had opened the broom cupboard door.

A smeared kiss.

A moment missed.

"James!" Lily gasped, turning to face him, her eyes wide. She didn't know why she felt so bad. But a pile of guilt had formed in her stomach. "I'm—uh—I'm sorry!" she exclaimed and pushed past him and Dewy and took off down the hall.

"Seriously, Prongs. Why, of all moments to open the broom cupboard. Of all broom cupboards there are in this school, did you have to open this one at this time?" Sirius asked. James' jaw was clenched.

"Sorry," he muttered, reaching past Sirius and grabbing two brooms. He shut the door in his friends face.

* * *

**A/N:** Itazu here! I'd like to thank my reviewers so much! Haha, even though I've only got four. Please keep reviewing! It'll encourage me to keep writing. This chapter was kind of hard to write. I wasn't sure how to go about doing anything so it took me a while to think of things. I literally went through three CDs and had only written one sentence at one point. I was really excited when I first started writing, though I think that I might have dived into Sirius and Lily's relationship too soon. Hopefully you can understand how hard this is for me! I want to make a bond between Lily and Sirius to describe the relationship they have in JKR's books. The letter Lily writes to Sirius is one that sounds like she's writing to a close friend so in this story I want to make that friendship strong as it seems in the letter. Don't worry! This won't last too long! I really thank Mrs. James Harold Potter for giving me constructive critism—it helped writing this chapter because I knew that whatever I wrote had to lead into my explanations of some questions or comments. Thanks to Sheildmaiden wot for telling me about my slight errors. The first chapter has been edited.  
_Some news_: I have officially decided that I will be writing four stories. This is the first, the second, as I've already mentioned, is going to be called Commit This To Memory, after Motion City Soundtrack's album. I'm confirming that the third will be Favorite Worst Nightmare after the Arctic Monkeys album (I just got it not too long ago—AMAZING and I can see a story in it) and the fourth just-decided-yesterday story will be called Discovering the Waterfront after Silverstein's album (if you're planning on downloading them, it's 'screamo' and I know a lot of people don't respect that kind of music, I personally love how each song is dripping in emotion, though). I hope to finish this before Christmas holidays and to start Commit This To Memory during those holidays (I hope to finish at least six chapters of it). 

**REVIEW PLEASE!** Just in case you forget.

Disclaimer: The Marauders and Lily and Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall, etc. are not mine, they are all JK Rowlings (since every story seems to have the disclaimer. Although you should know its not mine, this _is_ fanfiction afterall)

**FUN FACT:** My original plans was that Lily would make up with her friends sooner being separated from Sirius. But another Hogsmeade trip would come up and she'd ask him to that. But Slughorn's party seemed appropriate and it got me the song lyrics. Another thing: parts of this story were influenced by the book Private. Really good series, pretty much for girls only (unless you're a guy who likes to read about a girl's life). If you've read it, you'll probably be thinking, 'Holy shit, she took that whole scene from it' but at least I'm admitting that some of the stuff in this was not my original idea.  
**Line from song: **I had planned for Sirius to say something like, "It was just too real to be concealed." But that sounded un-Sirius-like so I went with others. At the end of the story I have two lines in the narraration directly from the song, _'A smeared kiss. A moment missed.' _And I also have Wednesday saying, _'You are his heartthrob.' _Which seemed like an appropriate Wendy thing to say. Thers's also James thinking about Lily's make up being put on beautifully _'due to her steady hand.'_

ALSO: If you want some more information on the story or to see my personally illustrated cover for it, go onto itazu.livejournal .com (no space between livejournal and .com, I just can't write the full website). The illustration isn't so good because I was half-asleep when I did it, was too lazy to re-do it and it was friggin' hard to re-draw the perfect looking Sirius I had drawn in art class (so he looks really stupid in this cover) and it took forever to draw James at first and then I pulled it off on the cover, only to realize that James doesn't look sixteen. I also realized that all the guys except Sirius (a bit) look like anime characters! I'm trying to get out of my anime-styled-people phase to draw people to look cartoonish but like you could match them up with a real person.


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